By Kieran Smith

Women’s football in Scotland has taken massive steps in recent years to become a more competitive space and will continue on this trajectory with a change to the league structure set to begin with the 2025/26 season.

Currently, the SWPL 1 is contested by twelve teams with the league splitting after each team plays each other twice and the SWPL 2 has eight teams and instead play each other four times. The new system will see the SWPL structured into two leagues, both of ten teams.

The SWPL has already taken massive strides toward becoming a more competitive division, with five full-time teams, Glasgow City, Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and Hibernian.

The 2023/24 finished with Celtic top on goal difference after being on equal points with Rangers, finishing nine points above dominant force Glasgow City. In 2024/25, City currently sit top after twelve games with Rangers and Hearts a point behind.

However, the gap still remains with the other teams in the top-flight with teams in the lower half of the table suffering heavy defeats at the hands of their full-time opponents and for the last two seasons the team ranked bottom have finished there with over 100 goals conceded.

Dundee United sit bottom of the SWPL 1 as it stands and have already conceded 71 goals.

The restructuring of the league system would begin to help alleviate this problem and create a level playing field across both SWPL divisions. This change would serve to add to the attractiveness of the league from both a commercial and playing standpoint as the league has already begun to garner more attention now that more teams are likely to do well.

The SWPL 2 would continue to provide a competitive stage for women in Scotland and would help to develop smaller clubs as they would continue to play against teams on a similar level. The new format will begin to mount pressure on the current teams competing for survival as three teams will face the drop to accommodate the new format.

SWPL restructure a welcome change to club football in Scotland